Teacher Feature - Learning & Hard Labor: Restoring a Forest TrailOnline EducationUpdated on Mar 7, 2016 View more like this | Visit WAUSAU, WI | Contact The Heritage Institute |
By Jill Literski, Wasau Fresh Start, Wausau, WI
I am the school teacher at Wausau Fresh Start school in Wausau, WI. It is a youth carpentry training program and high school alternative school. My students are boys age 17-24. I documented the work we did through The Heritage Institute's World We Want program instructed by Ann Amberg.
This past summer, I worked with a crew of students restoring an old forest trail on nearby Rib Mountain State Park. This trail and its retaining wall were originally built by young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 80 years ago. When I found out my students and I would be revamping the trails at the top of Rib Mountain, I was excited to be working outside for the summer. I was also excited to work hard and have the opportunity to supervise the project.
We had the privilege of revamping the same trails laid by the CCC in 1933. Myself, and 6-8 members of the Wausau Fresh Start crew, took out the old black-top to lay a new layer of gravel on the trail. The boys worked on the project for just over 2 months. They worked from 8:00am to 4:00pm. All the work was done with pick axes, shovels, and wheelbarrows.
These are the same type of boys (ages 17-24), working these same trails, generations later. The irony in that is nostalgic. Many of the boys had said to me, “it was the hardest work they had ever done”.
I learned a lot about myself and my crew. The actual work of the project changed me. I hadn’t worked outside in a park-like setting since I was 19 years old, when I worked Michigan’s State Park on Mackinac Island. Doing so made me feel young again. Working that hard, pushing myself, and being in nature was somewhat spiritual, at least it was for me. What I learned from my students is that I really liked them. We enjoyed each others’ company and everyone helped push each other to their personal best.
When I did the write-up and research on the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps for the World We Want course, I learned even more. That is when I really became excited about what we were doing. I wrote an article: “Boys Will Be Boys” which was published in our local newspaper.
By sharing our story in our community, we are laying the groundwork to engage others and enable next year’s students to continue work at Rib Mountain State Park. I am writing a sub-proposal to include the construction of an educational kiosk near the trailhead of this project. In it I would include information, pictures, etc. of the original CCC work. I would also include information about my students’ work. We plan to continue to work in collaboration with park officials and the “Friends of Rib Mountain” group— I’d like to extend our experience to all visitors of the park.
My hope is that more students will share this experience in the future. I envision the educational kiosk telling the story of the CCC and the dedicated work of my students, and that it would become an inspiring educational tool for the entire community.
I am the school teacher at Wausau Fresh Start school in Wausau, WI. It is a youth carpentry training program and high school alternative school. My students are boys age 17-24. I documented the work we did through The Heritage Institute's World We Want program instructed by Ann Amberg.
This past summer, I worked with a crew of students restoring an old forest trail on nearby Rib Mountain State Park. This trail and its retaining wall were originally built by young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 80 years ago. When I found out my students and I would be revamping the trails at the top of Rib Mountain, I was excited to be working outside for the summer. I was also excited to work hard and have the opportunity to supervise the project.
We had the privilege of revamping the same trails laid by the CCC in 1933. Myself, and 6-8 members of the Wausau Fresh Start crew, took out the old black-top to lay a new layer of gravel on the trail. The boys worked on the project for just over 2 months. They worked from 8:00am to 4:00pm. All the work was done with pick axes, shovels, and wheelbarrows.
These are the same type of boys (ages 17-24), working these same trails, generations later. The irony in that is nostalgic. Many of the boys had said to me, “it was the hardest work they had ever done”.
I learned a lot about myself and my crew. The actual work of the project changed me. I hadn’t worked outside in a park-like setting since I was 19 years old, when I worked Michigan’s State Park on Mackinac Island. Doing so made me feel young again. Working that hard, pushing myself, and being in nature was somewhat spiritual, at least it was for me. What I learned from my students is that I really liked them. We enjoyed each others’ company and everyone helped push each other to their personal best.
When I did the write-up and research on the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps for the World We Want course, I learned even more. That is when I really became excited about what we were doing. I wrote an article: “Boys Will Be Boys” which was published in our local newspaper.
By sharing our story in our community, we are laying the groundwork to engage others and enable next year’s students to continue work at Rib Mountain State Park. I am writing a sub-proposal to include the construction of an educational kiosk near the trailhead of this project. In it I would include information, pictures, etc. of the original CCC work. I would also include information about my students’ work. We plan to continue to work in collaboration with park officials and the “Friends of Rib Mountain” group— I’d like to extend our experience to all visitors of the park.
My hope is that more students will share this experience in the future. I envision the educational kiosk telling the story of the CCC and the dedicated work of my students, and that it would become an inspiring educational tool for the entire community.
